Channel 4 Northern Talent Network: Script Hubs
In partnership with Channel 4, our Script Hubs provide peer support and networking to writers across the North looking to take their career in TV forward.
Over a five-month period, ten writers in each Script Hub collaborate on a series of peer group sessions and professional development workshops. Each group is led by an experienced facilitator writer, with the workshops featuring guest writers, producers, and other broadcast professionals.
Places are selected via application. Applicants should have some experience writing scripts or be practising in another form, such as fiction or poetry, but do not need to have a commission.
Once the facilitated sessions and workshops are complete, the aim is that the groups will continue to meet as self-directed peer groups, maintaining a continuing relationship with New Writing North.
Current opportunities
Cumbria Script Hub
The Cumbria Script Hub is open to all writers living in Cumbria who are looking to take their career in TV forward.
The Cumbria Script Hub is led by Karen Bird.
Karen Bird has worked in film and television for over thirty years. Starting in the art department, she worked her way up to directing music videos and commercials in the nineties. In the noughties she turned her attention to writing and was part of the writing team on the Peaky Blinders VR game. She has co-written a TV show currently in development with the BBC and a feature in development with Tip Top productions in LA. Throughout her career she has mentored trainees for the BBC and Chanel 4 and runs a BFI film Academy at Signal Film and Media, supporting young filmmakers into the industry. Karen’s passion is to help creatives, of all ages and backgrounds, to find their voices through scriptwriting and filmmaking.
Global Majority Writers Script Hub (online)
The Global Majority Script Hub is open to writers across the North of England who are members of the global majority and looking to take their career in TV forward. The Global Majority Script Hub will take place online on these dates: 13 October, 20 October, 25 October, 3 November, 17 November, 20 November.
‘Global majority’ refers to all ethnic groups except white British and other white groups, including white minorities. It includes people from black, Asian, mixed, and other ethnic groups who are often racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’. (NCVO)
The Global Majority Script Hub is led by Afshan D’souza-Lodhi.
Afshan D’souza-Lodhi was born in Dubai and forged in Manchester. She is a writer of scripts and poetry. Her work has been performed and translated into numerous languages across the world. Afshan is currently a Lab Fellow for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. Afshan has been commissioned to write and direct a short film for Channel 4 (An Act of Terror) and a radio play for BBC Sounds (Chop Chop). In 2021, Afshan was a Sky Writes writer-in-residence for Rotherham, a partnership between Sky Studios and New Writing North. She is also currently developing a TV series with Sky Studios. Her debut poetry collection ‘re:desire’ (Burning Eye Books) was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2021). As well as her own writing, Afshan is keen to develop other younger and emerging artists and sits on the boards of Manchester Literature Festival and Pie Radio and is also a Young Trustee Ambassador for the North West.
Other Script Hubs
- Online Script Hub, led by Middlesbrough writer and filmmaker James Harris, funded by North East Combined Authority.
- Newcastle Script Hub, led by Geordie writer/performer Chess Tomlinson, funded by North East Combined Authority
- Bradford Script Hub, led by Bradford-based writer and director Jordon Scott Kennedy, in partnership with The Unit.
